6 Social Media Hacks to Boost Your Social Media Presence

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that Social Media Marketing, is a vital component of any small business marketing strategy. In the last few years, we have seen a huge surge in advertising on social platforms in Australia, and this trend is set to continue throughout 2017 and beyond. If you're one of many Aussie businesses who have yet to take the plunge into the world of Social Media, then you need to jump in. But, where do you start? This is a question I get asked often by my clients, so I've put together my list of 6 Social Media Hacks to boost your online presence.

1. Just do it

Not to steal from Nike here, but seriously, get in there and make a start. One of the common things I get asked is "what kind of thing should I post", and my answer is always, "what do you think your customer, or potential customer wants to know about? Give them that." The fact is, that some content is better than nothing at all, so get in there and do it.

2. Don't stick to one platform

When creating a Social Media strategy, it's important to do your research and not limit yourself to just one platform. I've seen numerous businesses with a simple Facebook Page and nothing more. The fact is, that whilst you might have a primary platform that delivers most of your leads, it's important to gain exposure across other platforms. For our business, we use Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google My Business and are just about to launch into Snapchat. This gives us a wide reaching exposure and a brand consistency that is vital. So, do some research and broaden your Social Media presence.

3. Use Hashtags

This is one of my favourite hacks - and be aware, that as I write this, it works. Hashtags are an incredible tool to increase your reach and engagement. On Facebook, stick to two hashtags only with no more than two lines of text on the post. Also, refrain from putting hashtags in the body of the text and keep them at the end. This will give you better reach, and much better engagement.

For Instagram, things work a little differently. Instagram allows you to use up to 60 hashtags, split into two blocks of 30. Instead of posting them in the caption, share the post without the hashtags and then post the first 30 as a comment. Wait and hour or so, delete them and then post the second 30. This seems to bump your post to the top of each of those hashtags at once and gives you great exposure. As far as what hashtags to use, do some research to look at the popular hashtags that relate to your business.

4. Post at the right time of the day

Believe it or not, but there are better times to post in order to get good engagement, and it depends on the platform you are using. According to HubSpot it goes something like this:

Facebook

Facebook is something people use both at home and at work, spending up to two hours a day on there. For maximum engagement, Saturday and Sunday between 12pm and 1pm, Wednesday between 3pm and 4pm and Thursday and Friday between 1pm and 4pm are the best times to post. People tend to be far more relaxed on Fridays so this is a perfect time to post lighthearted or funny content, and for the content you most want to get out there, Wednesday after 3pm is optimal. Engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursday and Friday and click through rates seem to do better on weekday afternoons. Don't post before 8am and after 8pm.

Instagram

Instagram doesn't seem to have a specific time that works best as people use it on their mobile all day everyday. In terms of filters, it seems that posts that have have a filter applied are 45% more likely to receive comments and 21% more likely to be viewed.

LinkedIn

Since most people use LinkedIn for business, it would follow that the best engagement comes during the week. According to HubSpot:

"Tuesdays tend to see the most clicks and shares, especially between 10:00–11:00 a.m. Mondays see lower engagement rates than the rest of the workweek, likely because people are catching up from the weekend. Friday may see lower engagement rates too, as people are wrapping up the week and even leaving early for the weekend.

The worst time to post on LinkedIn is during the night, between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m."

Twitter

The best days to post on Twitter seem to be during the week between 12pm and 3pm with B2B businesses doing better during the week, and B2C businesses attracting more engagement on weekends.

5. Curate, don't create.

Good content doesn't necessarily have to be your own. It's perfectly acceptable to post content from other sources that may be of interest to your customers. This can be a great way to increase your influence and build a solid Social Media profile without having to reinvent the wheel every time you want to post something.

6. Use video

In 2017, video has well and truly become the most consumed content online. So, it would follow that if you want to get your business in front of as many people as possible, you should be using video. Not sure what to video? Try creating videos about the content that you have already written. Using myself as an example, this one blog has given me six individual videos to create, one per hack. Again, you don't need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to do it.

These hacks are just some of the ways in which you can use Social Media to boost your marketing to create more lead opportunities and more customers. For more tips and marketing hacks, follow us on Facebook.